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Supercom Partner 32M Turbo
Comment 1: The Supercom by Hi-Speed came out around 1994. It can hold up to 7(!) games in memory even when the console is shut off. It supports Chinese, and English, however, it isn't DSP compatible and it doesn't run Super FX games either. The copier comes standard with 32Mbits RAM, 256K BRAM, and supports two 3.5" disk formats, but there is no parallel port. You can use a Sega Gamegear adapter as a power supply. The BIOS is standard, it can back up games straight from memory without the need for disks, identify games when loading, and it has the ability to write BRAM to a disk or cart. The disks are automatically loaded when on the run menu, and when you put in a cartridge another menu opens up to let you run or backup the game. The format used is smc, swc, mgd, and fig. Comment 2: The Super Nintendo was not only the most popular videogame system in the early 90's, but also the system with most illegal copying devices created for it. Nintendo was ofcourse using a lot of money to defeat the pirates, but everytime they closed a company, two new ones were created. Well the SNES is pretty much dead now and the copiers are getting quite hard to find, probably because the owners of the devices hardly ever parted with them. Anyway, I visited Germany a week ago (early March) and ofcourse found a few secondhand videogame stores to browse. At one of them I found something very dusty, looking like a TriStar adaptor. After a closer look it turned out that it wasnt exactly a TriStar, but actually an SNES copier, which name I had never heard of Before... Supercom Partner 32Mbit Turbo Super Version (hah! those pirates were so incredibly good at naming their units). As the collector I am, I ofcourse bought it (price 100 D-Marks which is around US$70-75). I then began digging up info about the unit, which is also quite hard (didnt come with manual or anything). It's wasnt one of the most popular SNES backup unit (copier) back then, and I actually got laughed at when I told old SNES backup owners on the net that I had bought an old Supercom. Though sofar I havent been able told why they claim stinks. The unit has two slots on the top, the right one is used to backup SNES cartridges while the other is used to add extra devises onto the copier (this slot has the same sice as a Famicom board, but doesnt copy Famicom carts. The games are loaded from a standard 3.5", either formatted as 1.44 (11mbit) or 1.6mb (12mbit). The first time I powered up the copier, which came with a standard EURO-SNES powersupply, it blew up my European SNES. Later on (mid may) I received a US SNES which I tampered quite a bit with just to get it to play, since it didnt come with the powersupply and the jack, which goes into the SNES, used on the US powersupply is kinda special. Well I had to install a new powersupply socket in the SNES as well as tampering a little so that it would run on a PAL TV without flickering (although I must've screwed it up somewhere along the way sine the sound is gone and it only plays in black/white on a PAL tv). Anyway, I then found out that the powersupply which came with the copier was wrong, and I began searching for one which would do what was needed. After testing a lot of adaptors I almost gave up, the copier-menu would show when the SNES was powered on, but the diskdrive didnt get enough power. One of the last powersupplys I had left, to test, was the one for my Sega GameGear, and woop woop, the drive made this funny little loading sound and the crap worked. The copier-menu is textonly and doesnt quite explain itself, so I had a little trouble figureing it out. After a few mins of looking through the screens I just popped in a disk and it began loading the game automaticly, when on the "run" menu (ok, that DOES explain itsself). The unit has 256k SRAM, used for save games, and a small battery which "remembers" the savegame when you power off the copier (although mine needs a new battery. You are able to save the save games onto a disk using the "Disk" menu and the "save data" option. (hint: load data is used to load SRAM from a disk, heh). The "tools" menu is used to save or load a rom without running it right away. I have no idea of what the password option is used for. If a cartridge is popped into the cart slot on top (no cart is needed when running games) of the copier a 4th menu will appear and let you copy the cartridge data (game) onto a disk or to the ram of the copier, you can chose just to the cartridge also. Since the cartridge slot was screwed up, I had to replace the connector and I'm not done doing that yet (hard as hell), so therefore no picture of the "disk" menu. I believe this is a pretty nice copier, for beginners, but its downside is that it cannot play games which uses the FX chip, nor Super Mario Kart with the funny security. It has to Copier->PC interface either. An upside however is that is supports all the great formats, smc - swc - mgd - fig etc., and that is has 32mbit ram. The copier has something called a "turbo" option, which I yet have to find out what really is........ information and pics from http://www.nesworld.com/archives/supercom.htm SPECS: NAME: Supercom Partner 32M Turbo Super Version SERIAL: 94070157 PRODUCED: 07/1994 RAM SIZE: 32Mbits (4 megabyte) PRODUCED BY : HiSpeed LOAD FEATURES: 3.5" (1.44mb) Diskdrive Category:Hi-Speed Category:Browse Category:Super Famicom Category:Super Nintendo